Friday, July 5, 2013

May and June DNF

I'm combining May and June because May was the month of The Great Under-Motivation for All Things. I only review books I've actually finished because I don't feel like it is fair to the book to write a review if I only got thirty pages in- who knows, maybe things really pick up at page sixty-five or some such. And, most of the time, I think that it is more a problem with me. Feel free to yell at me that I simply must give any of these books another go, if you think I've judged it really unfairly.

I seem to have this awful habit of expecting too much of books. The premise of this book is pretty out there as it is- any self respecting high school chemist knows that one does not simply cram an extra, radioactive, element into the periodic table and call it done. But I can suspend disbelief on that- if the character seemed knowledgeable, which I found he really didn't. He is collecting every element of the periodic table. But he isn't doing it in order, and doesn't seem to know the risks associated with, say, bringing arsenic to school. I got about fifty pages in, and I must confess I didn't see any value in continuing. This book just wasn't one for me.

A lot of people love this one. Like, really, really loved it. the blurb sounds quite unique, sort of a fantasy-mystery sort of book. I couldn't get into it. Madeline (the heroine) really bothered me. I was actually actively annoyed by her, and most of the other characters in the story. I didn't much care for the world, and I wasn't pulled into the story enough to finish the book. The attacks of the colours were a little too surrealist (maybe not the right word) for me. Instead of seeming charmingly quirky, the odd characteristics of the world felt forced.

I just didn't really feel any motivation to finish this one. I got about fifty pages in, but I didn't feel particularly interested in the character, or invested in the story. I think that this was more of personal thing. My interest wasn't piqued by the character in the beginning, and I didn't really have much in the way motivation to continue on to see if there was any character development.

And yes this is a few days late. This was supposed to be up at the end of June, but I kind of forgot.